OT:WTF happens to roads in snow/ice ?

[Jethro_uk]

Round here (Brum) the roads look like the place has seen a return visit from the Luftwaffe. We are talking 50/60 potholes per mile.

Since relaying roads was outlawed a few years back, I guess this means we;ll just get a shovelful of tarmac "patch" which will disappear before next months council tax bill.

What is it in snow/cold weather that causes such damage ? Is it ice expansion into voids breaking up the surface, or some action of grit plus wheels ?

Even more OT ... is there a required standard of road in terms of surface variation ? Maybe tucked away in a DoT/HA book somewhere ?

[Andrew]

Frost Heave. We had a wet winter so the sub-structure is wet and then we had a sudden and severe cold snap, then snow with the inevitable salt. Apply 32 million cars, many of them 2 tonne+ 4x4's and the road doesn't stand a chance.

It's what has caused so many burst pipes everywhere.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The former

Nope.

[DerbyBorn]

I have noticed the manhole surrounds seem to heave upwards.

[Martin Brown]

Freeze thaw action of ice going deeper widening cracks and then damn great snow ploughs smashing great chunks off.

The bodge it and scarper brigade with their dodgy mix of warm tar and patch mix don't work when the weather gets really nasty.

Several major roads round me have pretty bad surface damage and the rural roads are much much worse.

[Michael Chare]

I don't suppose that telling you that it is not just a Brum problem will be any consolation. We just have a clew less government that think they know better than both the EU and local government instead of sorting out problems such as the roads which they could do something about.

[charles]

The Government look after Motorways and Trunk roads. All other road are the responsibility of the County Council, Unitary Authority or metropolitan authorities.

[Clive Arthur]

That's your business. Please keep it that way.

Cheers

[JoeJoe]

I drive in the US a lot. Many many more cars on the roads there than in here, and the roads, in general, are miles better. I rarely see a pothole anywhere there, and the road markings are always there too.

I believe that it is all to do with the money spent on them - something we simply don't do/haven't done for a long time now.

[JoeJoe]

PS: another major problem we have (that the US don't) are the utilities that run under the roads. Looks good, but introduces plenty of problems.

[Davey]

When I lived in Michigan, there were always winter horror stories about the damage done to peoples' cars by the potholes. Even in rich areas, there is only so much you can do while the weather is unco-operative.

[Brian Gaff]

Both of those effects certainly and yes even if there is a parameter that current roads and footways transgress, you stand no chance of getting anything done under such laws or regulations as the one thing we seem to have learned from the French is to ignore rules and laws which are inconvenient. We blind have a lot of legal rights under the equalities act, but since no legal aid is available to take people to court, including the nhs and councils, they seldom are taken to task and cruise along ignoring the rules for years. Brian

[Muddymike]

Outlawed? The "C" road past my home was ground up and completely resurfaced last year.

I also drive in the US a lot and find the roads off the main highways diabolical for potholes, and many country road are still dirt!

Mike

[Andrew]

Plenty of huuuuge potholes in Florida and other places.

[Dave Liquorice]

Or when the hole the plonk it in is still full of water, they need to cut back the edges square, dry and warm the hole with a BFO blowlamp before priming and whacking in/compacting the tarmac then sealing along the joint with hot tar.

Reasonably sure that if you sustain damage to your car because of a pothole you can claim from the council.

[Jethro_uk]

Only if they were negligent in discharging their obligation to maintain the road, I recall.

Hence reporting potholes (fixmystreet.com) with pics and GPS is a good thing to do. It means they can't claim they weren't notified.

On a similar note, we popped into Brum yesterday, and managed to park on- street in a disable bay. Next to it was a pole with a parking restriction sign on it.

SWMBO got back to the car first and while waiting for me, 2 men in hi-viz jackets turned up, and spent 5 minutes measuring the angle of the pole with a spirit level. The entire process was recorded and photographed.

I suspect they are making it as hard as possible for any no-win no-fee firms.

That said they were torn a new one a few years ago when a falling diseased tree killed someone :(

[Michael Chare]

Those other roads are not being maintained properly because of the poor central government funding to local authorities and rising social car costs. This is an issue that the Government could address.

[Tim Watts]

Yeah - good luck with that... I tried (broken springs). They become like a clutch of teflon weasels who fell into a tub of melted lard.

[Steve Walker]

Yet somehow our council still manage to spend £1.5M totally redesigning a junction that needed just a single minor change (3 ft adding to the edge of a single lane for a 25 yard length) ... and the new design still doesn't address the original problem; they change perfectly good zebra crossings into puffins (with new dropped kerbs, new power supplies, etc. due to sight-lines to the new lights from a car park exit not allowing the old position), wait 18 months and replace it with a toucan (moved another 8 feet over so a whole new installation again) - when there are no cycle paths and no room to add them, so cyclists must be illegally riding on the pavement to use it; they add a dual-direction cycle path to a straight, wide road, but cyclists won't use it because it means crossing the road twice, but the changes have narrowed the road itself making it impossible to pass a 10 mph cyclist on a 40mph road during rush hour. The list goes on and on and the problems would have been obvious to any normal person at the planning stage.

SteveW

[Davey]

I successfully claimed for a wheel and tyre a couple of years ago. I bought a second-hand wheel, which happened to have a tyre still on it, and followed the claim procedure to the letter. I received full reimbursement for what it cost me.